Cooking with Kelly: Lettuce wraps

Who knew that eating pizza and cookies all the time wasn't the best way to fit into a bridesmaid dress? Yeah, I guess I knew and just chose to ignore it.

With my growing waistline and shrinking budget, I whipped up this little recipe to help assuage both concerns. By shredding one large chicken breast and adding lots of veggies, I'm able to extend one chicken breast into several healthy and cost-conscious lunches.

Here's what you need:

1 head of iceberg or bibb lettuce

2 cups shredded carrots

1 bag sprouts (I used bean sprouts)

1 cucumber, pealed, seeded and cut into sticks

For the chicken itself:

1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 chicken breast, cubed and marinated in enough teriyaki sauce to coat

1/4 cup chopped water crests

3 green onions, sliced

1/2 teaspoon diced ginger root (use the real stuff, people)

2 cloves garlic, diced

2 tablespoons lite soy sauce

Peanut sauce:

4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

2 tablespoons lite soy sauce

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon diced fresh ginger

1 clove garlic, diced

Juice from half a lemon

To prepare: Heat oil in a skillet (or electric skillet in my case) and place chicken cubes in an even layer on the surface, occasionally turning to cook through for about seven minutes. Remove from heat and place remaining chicken items in the skillet to warm through. Shred chicken into small pieces and return to pan, heating all ingredients together until warm, about two minutes. For the sauce, heat all items together in the microwave in 15-second increments, stirring in between until the sauce is smooth. To assemble, use a lettuce leaf as a cup and layer carrots, sprouts and cucumbers to your taste in the cup. Top with a portion of the warm chicken and drizzle with a half tablespoon of the warm peanut sauce.

This will make about a week's worth of lunches, depending on how large the chicken breast and how hungry you are at lunch. It requires a bit of assembly, but it's better than any salad bar I've frequented and is much cheaper.